Complicated Thinking for a Simple Matter
by watergurl123
Summary: His excuses are sloppy and revealing, but she plays along, the truth is too awkward to face in this proximity. Another remake of There's the Rub. Paris leaves before Jess arrives. Literati.
1. Chapter 1

**I am just crankin them out this week. That's probably a bad thing, since I'll most likely forget about one of them. Anyway another version of There's the Rub. Paris leaves before Jess arrives and then the madness ensues. I borrowed a few lines from the original episode. I hope you like it, _PLEASE review_ to let me know if I should continue!** **I also appreciate criticism.**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.

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**Chapter 1:**

"You'll do fine Paris!" She shouts before closing the door with a sigh. One hour and fourteen minutes now gone of her 'alone' night…

She walks into the living room, eyeing her laundry, disappointed that she'd only successfully completed her whites and T-shirts with writing. She sat on the couch, contentedly separating her colors into piles of dark, medium, and light.

She walks to the washer, tossing in the darkest of the colors when the doorbell rings. She smiles thinking how delicious that Indian food would be, Lorelai would just have to deal with the smell.

Grabbing the money on the counter she walks to the door, yanking it open. Her head is down while she counts out the correct amount plus a tip.

"Hey Jerry, thanks for throwing in that extra…" when she finally glances up she sees a pair of long callused fingers wrapped securely around a brown cardboard box. Her eyes travel along denim-covered arms all the way up to brown eyes and a crooked mouth.

"What?" She's surprised and she knows it's evident in her expression. Her eyes are shifting from his face to what he's holding, trying to wrap her mind around it. _Jess_ is here? Carrying mass quantities of food emblazoned with Luke's symbol? She hears him vaguely talking about delivering a care package.

She informs him that she already ordered Sandeep's and she almost smiles as he mentions burning the house down but she's still too shocked for pleasantries. He's talking again but she's more focused on his fingers as they grip the cardboard and they way his mouth hooks when he says kitchen.

Since when did he move so fast? She closes the door when she realizes he's no longer standing on the porch. His footsteps are light and quick and by the time she makes it to the kitchen he's already unpacked half the food.

"This could feed twelve." She's a little offended as she watches more and more being piled onto the table. She doesn't eat _that_ much. She may not be a count-your-calories, eat-only-salad type, but watching a boy remove six hamburgers intended specifically for you was no girls idea of flattery.

"Excuse me, I've seen you eat." He talks like it's the most basic knowledge on the planet, giving her a knowing look.

She wants to deny it but being Luke's nephew, she knows it's pointless.

He's talking about getting out of the construction zone and she feels like he's lying. If he just wanted peace and quiet he would have gone to the bridge. She wants to call him out on it but knows he doesn't take well to accusations.

It seems he's already read her mind.

"Why, did you think I wanted to come over here and see you?" His smirk is smug and it makes her want to roll her eyes. Of course he would spin this onto _her_, like she asked him to come in the first place.

His excuses are sloppy and revealing, but she plays along, the truth is too awkward to face in this proximity.

She's waiting for him to leave but it's becoming increasingly clear that he has no intention of doing so. He's making small talk, a feat in and of itself.

The more he stalls, the more amused she becomes but it's soon turning into annoyance. She looks at the clock, watching seconds of her evening tick by. He's taking off his jacket and she wants to throw it back at him and tell him to put it back on but the words never make it out of her head, much less to her throat.

He leans back against the counter and she watches as the veins travel from his wrists up his forearms, standing taut against his olive skin. They disappear beneath the cuff of his rolled sleeves and she finds herself imagining her fingers traveling along them slowly, like a road map. She wonders what destination they would lead her to.

Her tongue feels thick and heavy as he steps closer to her. This is dangerous territory. With no one around it's not so easy to ignore.

"That sounded invitation-like." He openly stares, daring her to contradict him. She's up for the challenge.

"That was not an invitation. You barged your way into my house and then twisted my words." She raises her chin and crosses her arms.

"Really?" He smirks and she seethes.

"Yes really. This was supposed to be my nice quiet evening. I was going to do laundry, eat the food that I like, watch movies, and just veg out. Now with you here there can be no vegging. I have to be dressed and have make-up on and be girly all while playing the nice hostess." She clenches her jaw.

"Hostess? What…" He begins before she cuts him off.

"I should be wearing Mr. Peanut pajamas right now, sitting on that couch," she points to the living room, "folding laundry, eating tandoori chicken, and watching 'Airplane!'. Instead I'm in this cramped kitchen staring at twenty pounds of diner food, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, I'm about to go put on mascara and lip gloss, talking to you!" She finally ends with an exaggerated huff.

He looks at her and then clenches his jaw, looking away. She suddenly feels small and somewhat guilty. She catches his eye for a second and he looks upset. She uncrosses her arms and looks down. She fidgets with her foot, twisting the toe of her shoe on the floor.

He can tell she feels bad by the way she's suddenly silent and keeps changing her position. He decides to take the high road to keep her from beating herself up too bad.

He sighs heavily as he leans closer to her, supporting his weight on the back of the chair. "Look, how about I make you a counter offer?" She curls her hair behind her ear and he knows he has her attention.

"Go put on your pajamas, we'll call Sandeep's and cancel the order, you can sit on the couch and fold all the laundry you want since I'm sure you have some system for folding clothes too, I'll put Airplane on, and forget about the make-up. You know that's ridiculous."

He leans his head down, attempting to catch her eye and sees her chewing her bottom lip. She's thinking.

Finally she looks up and sighs. "I'm not changing into my pajamas." She's going to keep one sliver of dignity tonight.

"Ok." He grins lopsidedly. "I think Mr. Peanut will be very disappointed though."

She rolls her eyes but can't stop from smiling. "Well if he knows what's good for him." She grabs the cordless phone, calling Sandeep's and canceling the order, apologizing profusely if they already started to make it.

Jess walks out of the kitchen and into the living room, kneeling down as he spots the DVD cabinet.

Rory watches him from the hallway, blushing as his shirt rides up a little to reveal the top of his boxers and the small of his back. She spots a little brown spot shaped like a diamond and wonders if it's his birthmark. She turns quickly and walks to the laundry room, effectively stopping her train of thought.

He smirks as he looks over his shoulder and catches the red on her cheek as she retreats to the back of the house. He finds 'Airplane!' and puts it into the DVD player. As the display screen plays, he walks back into the kitchen and grabs the take-out, setting it on the coffee table.

She tosses her wet darks into the dryer and goes back out to find Jess already seated on the couch, munching on a french fry while he holds her pile of medium colored laundry.

When he sees her, he stands and hands her the clothes. Their fingertips briefly touch in the tangle of fabrics and she avoids his eyes.

"Need any help?" He asks quietly and his eyes make her nervous.

"I still…have some whites to fold. You could try if you want, but I'm very picky." She tries to act normal, gesturing to the small pile behind him. She walks away to put the mediums into the washer. Her head is foggy and she doesn't like the way her heart is beating.

He stares after her, wiggling his fingers slightly to get rid of her touch. He blows out a breath slowly before walking over to her whites. He smirks when he sees the first things on the pile are a bra and panty set, made of simple cotton. He'll probably picture her in this later, but for now he respectfully moves them to the side. Touching her underwear, even if he had pseudo permission, stills strikes him as a slightly creepy move. One he's sure she wouldn't appreciate.

He folds her clothes somewhat carelessly, knowing no matter how meticulous he is, she'll refold them herself. She was only accepting his offer to be polite. He's beginning to understand just how well he knows her. And he thinks she is too. It makes her uncomfortable and for some reason that makes him oddly happy.

Walking back, she blushes deeply when she spots her underwear seated to the right of the pile. She picks up the clothes and she can tell he sees her utter embarrassment, but he chooses to ignore it, instead picking up a burger and beginning to unwrap the foil.

She feels some type of inexplicable happiness, knowing he's taking her feelings into consideration. She wonders if Dean would touch her underwear. Probably not. He's much too worried about her virtue for that.

She's pretty sure Jess isn't concerned with virtue. He's probably more worried of her having a nervous breakdown if she had found him twisting her panties around in his hands.

In her bedroom she blushes brighter than before, feeling like she's about to start sweating in her thin clothes, as flashes of him at the foot of her bed flit through her mind. She can see his bare shoulders, one of his hands is holding her bare leg at the ankle, slightly elevated. His other hand is slowly pulling her panties over her foot…

She abruptly tosses the clothes into an open drawer and slams it shut, trying to stop all such images from entering her mind. She rakes her fingers through her hair, effectively pulling off her headband and tossing it onto the dresser. Her heart is still pounding and she lets out a shaky breath. She calms herself as much as possible before walking back to the living room.

When he sees her he knows something is off. Her pupil's look dilated and her hair is a little mussed. Her walk is somewhat clumsy as she stumbles on her own foot. He raises his eyebrows at her but she avoids his eyes.

"Did you refold the clothes?" He smirks at her, trying to lift whatever funky mood she's in.

"Um, yeah." She lies unconvincingly. That had been her original intention, at least. She didn't think she could trust herself to look at those particular clothes right now without blushing.

He shakes his head slightly at her nervous nature, but hands her a burger instead. He'd already removed the pickles and lettuce.

She sits beside him, making sure there's a cushions distance between them, and smiles in appreciation as she takes the food. When she lifts the bun to take off the lettuce and pickle, she finds it's already removed. She looks at the coffee table to see two pickles and a leaf of lettuce sitting on top of a napkin and grins. She looks over at him and sees he's already looking at her, smiling as well.

Two hours later they'd consumed half the food and watched the entirety of 'Airplane!' and were now forty-five minutes into 'Titanic', as Jess mercilessly mocked every minute of it.

"This is like Romeo and Juliet on ice." He laughs when she throws a french fry at him.

"Would you please shut up? I realize this is a terrible movie, with a terrible plot, and it's cheesy, as are most romances, but I told you this was my _alone_ night and I was going to watch _my_ movies. Now if you're going to mock every minute of it then you might as well leave." She glares at him through the darkness of the living room. "And…yes it is like Romeo and Juliet." She grudgingly admits, burying herself deeper into the cushions.

"How can you like this? It's so unrealistic. They fall in love in the course of five days and then she just loves him forever, regardless of the fact that she marries and has kids with another man. Don't you think that's a little unfair to him?" He glances at her sideways, smirking at the annoyed looked on her face.

"Didn't you hear her? A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets. You're supposed to overlook that. It's romantic okay, just accept it." She huffs loudly, trying to indicate this conversation is over.

"That is not romantic. That's about as unromantic as it gets. She's been in love with another guy for 80 years."

"Fine!" She shouts, picking up the remote and stopping the movie. A blue glow settles over the room as the screen saver pops up.

He chuckles quietly and looks at her to see that she's glowering into the darkness. "Fine I'm done." He says holding up his hands.

She glances at him, still holding her angry expression, but it's slowly softening. "You swear?"

"Cross my heart." He says while rolling his eyes.

"Pinky promise?" She asks holding up her hand and sticking her pinky out.

"I am not pinky promising." He scowls at her, looking at her finger with furrowed brows.

"Come on. It'll make it official." She starts to smile, amused by his displeasure.

"No." He pushes her hand away with his own, then crosses them over his chest.

"Mean. Me and Lane used to all the time." She pouts at him and clasps her hands in her lap.

"And how old were you?"

"Six…or seven." She admits sheepishly.

"Exactly." He twists to the left, reaching to the far end of the coffee table to grab his soda. As he did so, his shirt lifted up, once again revealing the diamond shaped spot on his back.

Rory stared at it before looking up in time for him to turn around without noticing. She looked back at the TV screen quietly, contemplating.

"Hey Jess?" She glanced at him.

"Yeah?" He asked, not really paying attention.

"Do you have a birthmark?" She tries to ask nonchalantly.

"What?" He turns to face her, completely thrown by her seemingly random question.

"Nothing, forget about it." She says, taking a sip of her soda to hide her embarrassment.

He looks at her for a moment before saying, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

She turns back to him, "Really?"

He silently lifts up the back of his shirt, displaying for the third time that night the small diamond pattern.

"It's a diamond." She smiles at him, pleased with herself for already knowing where it was.

"Your turn." He smirks at her.

She turns a little pale. She hadn't exactly thought this through. Her birthmark wasn't located so innocently.

"I…" She trails off, not knowing what to say.

"We had a deal." His expression is turning a little more serious, and it makes her heart beat faster.

She coughs to clear her throat and takes a deep breath. She stands and looks at him nervously before continuing. She hooks her thumb into the top of her jeans and pushes the left side down about two inches to reveal a reddish-brown circle on the V of her hip.

The hand on her hip is trembling slightly and she looks up to see that he is staring intensely at the mark. He licks his lips quickly and his hand begins to slowly drift upwards.

Her breathing is faster now and she's entirely focused on his hand as it rises higher. The minute it comes in contact with her skin her lips part.

His hand is on her hip, his thumb placed perfectly over the mark, while his other fingers wrap around her side. He stands and softly places his other hand on her waist.

The hand that was on her hip is now resting on top of his. She feels his fingers gripping her skin and she tries to slow her breathing.

That's when they both hear it. A knock at the front door.

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**I know, evil cliffhanger. But hey, it's the only way I can keep you guys coming back! I hope you liked it and _PLEASE review! _**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everybody! I'm so excited that I've gotten 16 reviews for this story, that's awesome. And you all seem to really like it. I especially appreciate those of you that took the time to write a lengthy description of your likes and dislikes. Those are really helpful in determining your reactions. I appreciate any form of criticism! I hope you like this chapter and _PLEASE_ let me know in a review.  
**

**That being said, someone commented that they felt Rory and Jess might be moving too fast. I can understand where you're coming from, considering nothing actually happened on the show until like, five episodes later. But I wanted to explain my reasoning for the pace, since it is deliberate. First off, I didn't want them to kiss. I knew that from the start. That's why I ended with only the touch, not even mentioning the thought of kissing in either one. However, I wanted some kind of physical contact because I think that by this time in the series, Rory had some type of attraction towards Jess. Whether she was aware of it or not is debatable but it was there. I think Jess on the other hand did know it, which is why he liked to push her buttons so much. Also in the episode, Rory asks Paris to stay, showing that she was obviously uncomfortable at the prospect of being alone with Jess, leading me to wonder what she was afraid of happening if they were alone together. Also, Rory's thoughts when she's alone I felt were appropriate, because she is 16 (17 maybe?) after all, and honestly us ladies do have thoughts like that (at least me haha) and I didn't think she would be excluded. And lastly, the most obvious is for plot development. If they didn't touch, it would kind of slow the story down, so it just picks up the process. Anyway, thank you for listening to this enormous rant, and I very much appreciate the criticism!**

**I hope you enjoy! **

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.

**Chapter 2:**

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"Fuck." Jess mutters as he quickly steps back. He runs a hand through his hair, continuously mumbling obscenities.

Rory looks at him, her eyes wide and mouth still slightly parted. There was another knock and her eyes got even wider.

"Someone's at the door." She quietly exclaims.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." He whispers, giving her an exasperated look.

"You shouldn't be here!"

"I think it's a little late for that, don't you?" He glares at her, his face forming into a harsh frown.

"Go, you have to go! Now!" She gestures wildly, pointing in all directions.

"Great plan. Hold on a sec. while I shimmy down the drainpipe." He rolls his eyes. "Where the hell do you expect me to go?"

"I don't care, wherever, just as long as no one can see you." She looks around with a worried expression. Suddenly she turns to him, clapping her hands. "My room! Yes, go to my room and shut the door. Don't come out until I say so."

"Fine." He huffs, but quickly walks around her couch and into her bedroom, quietly shutting the door.

Rory sighs, happy she had drawn the blinds during the movies, making it impossible for whoever was on the porch to see inside the house.

She looks around at all the mess and bites her bottom lip. That would be hard to explain. Maybe she can keep whoever it is outside.

One name is repeatedly popping into her mind and she's borderline panicking. _Please, let it not be him…_

When there are three more rapid knocks she quickly walks to the door, bracing for what's on the other side.

When she opens it she can almost hear the hallelujah choir as she breathes a sigh of relief. She lets her shoulders slacken as she says, "Hey Luke."

"Good, Rory, your home. I wasn't sure. I saw some lights on through the windows…" He trails off, awkwardly pointing to the side of the house with his thumb.

"Uh, yeah I'm home." She smiles a little, trying to relieve the tension. He stares at her, nodding for a moment, scratching the back of his head. "Did you…need something Luke?"

"Oh right, I was uh, just wondering if you'd seen Jess, by any chance?" He asks uncomfortably.

"J-Jess?" She stutters out, her palms feeling clammy against the doorframe.

"Yeah, he took off a couple of hours ago. He was supposed to help close up the diner tonight, little punk…" He mumbles discontentedly to himself.

Rory has to stop herself from grinning.

"I know you guys are…friends, or something. I've been all over town and I mean…I guess he likes you, so I figured I'd at least try here. I don't really know…if you guys…hang out much." He scratches his head again, looking uncomfortably at his shoes.

"Um…" She wasn't sure how to answer. Did Jess want him to know where he was? Obviously not, if he hadn't informed him beforehand. Or maybe he just didn't care either way. "Y…no. No, not for a while at least." She'd been tempted to say yes, but then thinking of this town and the way things circulated, she'd thought better of it. A little fib wouldn't hurt. "He stopped by earlier, to give me the care package, but he left soon after. So, not for a few hours." She stared past him, never very comfortable with lying.

"Care package? What are you talking about?" He asks confusedly.

"The one from the diner." She says slowly. "Since my mom was out of town?" She says in an almost question, watching as he becomes more and more confused.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Could you just send him back if you do see him?"

She nods absentmindedly, her head now occupied with other thoughts. He thanks her with a wave and heads down the steps.

She turns slowly to face away from the door, a smile covering her face. Oh, things just got _very_ interesting.

Walking to the kitchen she calls out, "So wanna know who that was? It was Luke, and let me just say Lucy, you got some splainin' to do." Her smile is overpowering, thinking of ways to make him squirm for the next three weeks.

"I'm pretty sure Luke didn't know anything about that food." When she opens her bedroom door the smile slips off her face as she looks around and sees an empty room. But she'd _seen_ him go in here. She walks in, looking around her bed, as if she'd find him huddled on the floor for some bizarre reason. "Jess?" She looks behind her door, thinking that maybe he'd snuck behind it. Staring at nothing but her bathrobes she begins to get a little worried. "Come on, this isn't funny."

She sulks as she stands in front of her closet with her arms crossed over her chest. Where the hell could he be? Maybe he'd snuck out the window. But that's impossible, considering Luke would have seen him.

In her silent reverie, she doesn't notice the closet quietly creeping open. Suddenly a hand shoots out, pulling her off balance and causing her to tumble backwards. She lets out a screech but is quickly silenced by something rough and warm covering her mouth.

Now tangled in a pile of her own clothing, she looks up fearfully only to meet with a familiar pair of eyes, shining with amusement. Her blood boils as she rips his hand from her mouth.

"You are such a jerk!" She slaps a hand solidly against his chest, enunciating each word with a dig of her nails. As her near-heart attack panic subsides she notices for the first time their position. In his attempt to pull her in, Jess had fallen off his own feet, ending up sitting in the corner of the closet, his legs stretched out before him. Rory had tumbled backwards, falling onto his lap where she was currently sitting.

Her hand on his chest is bouncing with each shake of his laughter.

"You should have seen your face." He manages to breathe out as his laughter dies down to a quiet chuckling.

"I can't believe one person can be this annoying." She huffs out, attempting to smack him on the arm with her other hand, but he easily catches it, softly holding her wrist between his fingers.

"Call it a gift." He smirks at her, resting the back of his hand on top of her thigh, still holding her wrist. He leans his head back on the corner of the wall, shutting his eyes.

Looking down, she takes her hand from his chest and begins to pull pieces of clothing off them both. Once she'd pushed everything to the opposite corner, she slowly looks around. It was dark, the light from the lamp on her nightstand softly streaming into the doors. She looked over at him, watching his chest rise and fall. She smiled to think that he looked purely _happy_ for once.

"God, I don't think I've ever had you laugh like that."

He snorts. "I don't think anyone has ever heard me laugh like that."

She turns her head away from him, shyly smiling into the opposite corner. She sighs softly while she leans her head back against the wall.

"What are you doing in here anyway?" She peeks at him from the corner of her eye.

"Closet monster in training." He deadpans. He can't help but smirk when he can practically feel her eyes narrowing in his direction. "I wasn't sure if whoever was on the porch would be coming into the house. Somehow I don't think I would have blended too well amongst Colonel Clucker and Raggedy Anne." He opens his eyes and gestures to the stuffed dolls at the foot of her bed.

"You leave the Colonel out of this." She grins.

As they both grow quiet she looks down and softly pulls her wrist out of his grasp, folding her hands in her lap. He pulls his hand off of her thigh and uses it to push against the floor of the closet, shifting his legs.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Rory says. She realizes she'd probably been sitting on his lap for about fifteen minutes, most likely making his legs fall asleep. She struggles to push herself off him in the cramped space but successfully manages to sprawl across the floor of her room.

She can hear his breath huff in one small chuckle and a moment later he's standing over her.

"Very graceful." He looks down at her in amusement.

"No fair. How did you manage to get out of there so quickly?"

"Years of practice." He states vaguely before offering her his hand.

She chooses not to think about his statement, which would probably lead her to some uncomfortable conclusions. She lets him easily pull her off the floor, thanking him when she's steadily on her own feet.

He nods his head in a sign of welcome before shoving his hands in his pockets. She's standing about two feet away, awkwardly scratching one arm.

"Right, so…" She trails off, a little uncomfortable just standing in her bedroom. She walks out into the kitchen, and she can hear his footsteps behind her.

Seeing the Luke's food on the table, she remembers her former mood and suddenly turns on him, her eyes dancing mischievously.

"What?" Jess asks, seeing her devilish expression.

"So Luke was at the door." She bites her lip with a smug grin.

"So I heard." He watches her, growing more cautious with each look she gives him.

"Yeah, we chatted a little." She bobs her head, her pleasure growing as she sees him fidget subtly, watching as he taps against the back of a chair.

"Well, we both know how much of a gossip hound Luke can be." He blinks, his face impassive.

"Exactly. So while we were gossiping, you know Whitney's failing career, Homeland Security, the utter suck-age that is Linkin Park, that sort of thing, I stumbled across some very interesting information."

He's vaguely reminded of the Cheshire cat as he watches a smile spread across her face. "I should really be getting back. I was supposed to close up tonight anyway." He turns from her and walks into the living room to grab his jacket, but she's hot on his heels.

"I mentioned this little care package, and funny things is, he seemed to have no idea what I was talking about." She stands in front of him when he reaches the front door, placing her hands on her hips. His irritated expression only adds to her satisfaction.

"I need to get back to work."

"You're squirming, I've never seen you squirm. It's entertaining." She shoots him a triumphant look.

"Oh yeah?" He asks sarcastically.

"Yeah." She states, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Glad you're enjoying it." He rolls his eyes.

"I am." She stares at him expectantly but he just returns her look blankly. She begins to laugh quietly. "Gosh, you're such a Debby Downer."

"I prefer Negative Nancy."

"Right, 'cause Nancy gets all the boys." She shrugs her shoulder in feigned understanding.

"Well, can't be dateless for winter formal." He sighs. "Is this going somewhere?"

"You're so uptight! I'm just joking, jeez." She pushes his shoulder playfully. "You know you could have just called or something if you wanted to hang out."

He scoffs. "Really?" He gives her an incredulous look. "I bet Andre would have a field day with that."

"Be nice." She shoots him an annoyed look. "Besides, it's not like he controls who I can and can't hang out with."

"Seemed pretty worried about getting me into your bedroom." After he says it, he can't help but smirk at the double meaning.

"That's nice." She says sarcastically, also recognizing the innuendo. "And that's only because-"

"Because you didn't want him to find me here." He cuts her off pointedly.

"I told him I was going to be alone tonight. Anyone being over, including you, is going against what I said." She huffs. "I didn't specifically say, 'Yeah, I'll make sure I'm not hanging out with Jess.'"

"So it doesn't matter that I'm here?" He arches an eyebrow at her.

"Of course it matters! I just told you that no one was supposed to be here." She throws up her hands with an exasperated sigh.

"What if I had been Lane? Somehow, I don't think you'd be quite this worked up." He looks at her knowingly.

"Yes I would." She says quietly, avoiding his eyes.

"That's bull Rory and we both know it." His voice rises a little. "If he had found Lane here, you would have just explained that she showed up unexpectedly and all would be right in Pleasantville."

"What do you want me to say Jess? Yes, okay! Yes, if he had found you here we probably would have fought or something, is that what you want to hear?" She clenches her fists.

"What makes me so different? We're just friends right?" He asks with a sneer, a taunting edge to his question.

"Of course." She looks up at him and watches his jaw clench. She's suddenly reminded of the way he'd touched her earlier, and the guilt comes in waves.

"Well if we're just _friends_," he spits the word like poison, "what does he have to worry about?"

She's quiet as she tries to form a response. She doesn't know what's going on. In all the commotion, she'd hardly had any time to reflect on what had been occurring before Luke showed up, and now that she does it's like drinking a scalding beverage. Building with anticipation as you can smell the aroma and lift it to your lips, but when the liquid reaches your mouth it shocks you back to reality, and all you can feel is the searing pain of the burn on your tongue.

"Why are you being so difficult?" She goes on the defensive, trying to force him to back down. "You know he doesn't like you Jess, and I'm pretty sure you're not too fond of him either."

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine." Her chin is lifted in indignation. She finally sighs in defeat, unable to break his hard exterior. "He doesn't have anything to worry about. We're friends, as we've both said. And we _can_ hang out," she says firmly, "just because he doesn't like you doesn't mean I'm not going to be friends with you. But under these circumstances, the fact that I was supposed to be alone _and_ you guys hate each other, it resulted in me panicking a little." She sighs while looking up, waiting for him to say something.

"And that's it?" He looks at her expectantly.

"Yes." She attempts to say it concretely, but it sounds unsure to her own ears. "About earlier…" she trails off, a blush rising in her cheeks as she fumbles with her hands.

He looks at the wall behind her and clears his throat. He knew this was coming.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention that to anyone." The words sound silly, but she's struggling with what she really wants to say. Who the hell would he tell anyway?

He almost wants to laugh, but there's nothing humorous about this situation. "Okay." He tells her quietly with a nod of his head.

"We shouldn't have…" Again she's at a loss, still unaware of what _actually_ happened. Replaying the moment in her head, her stomach clenches and for some god-awful reason she feels like crying. It's irrational and she feels disgusted with herself. Technically, they actually hadn't _done_ anything, but for some reason she feels like it was _everything_. It's at least something she's not willing to tell anyone, especially not her mother. She sees Dean in her mind and it just makes her feel sicker.

"Rory, I get it." He tells her with a sigh. He's a little irked at the way she brushes it off so easily, but if she wants to forget then so can he. "Shit happens, right?" He tries to say casually, running a hand through his hair.

"Magic is as magic does." She mumbles into her chest. He grins momentarily.

"Don't you mean stupid is as stupid does?"

"Me and mom watched 'Aladdin' the other night." She explains with a shrug.

"Naturally." He nods. She smiles at him for a moment and they both visibly relax, glad some of the tension is dissipating.

Standing in the hallway, she glances at the clock and notices it's almost eight. "It's kind of late." She says, turning back to him.

"It's only eight Miss Daisy." He replies with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes playfully. "I told Luke I'd send you back if I found you."

"Found me?" He questions.

"I may have fibbed and said I hadn't seen you for a few hours." She grins.

"Look at you Clinton, in a few weeks we could have you up to Nixon." He chuckles when she attempts to scowl at him, but her smile gets in the way. "So did you find me?" He asks softly.

"I think I'm gonna let Clinton answer that one." He nods like he expected that answer.

"So what now?" He asks, once again removing his jacket and walking into the living room.

Rory smiles to herself as she watches him. "Apples to Apples?"

"Doesn't that need four people?" He asks raising his eyebrows at her when she walks after him.

"Really? Me and mom have really been playing it wrong then." She furrows her brow and sits on the couch.

"Movie?" He asks, sitting next to her.

"No, I'm kind of movie-d out. Blasphemy, I know. I just feel like something else though." She sighs and continues to think with a pensive expression on her face. "And I'm too tired to read. I would probably fall asleep if we tried." Suddenly her face brightens and she turns to him. "Hide and seek!"

"So you're too tired to read but not too tired to exert yourself by running around and trying to fit into cramped spaces?" He looks at her with a smirk.

"It's a different kind of tired. Like, emotionally tired. And concentrating on words right now is way too strenuous for my mind, but physically I've got all the strength in the world. Sign me up for the StrongMan Competition, that's the kind of strength we're talking here."

"You're a regular Arnold." He grins at her antics. "Who starts?"

"You hide, I'll seek." She excitedly gets up and runs to a corner of the room to start counting back from ten.

Half an hour later, Jess walks as quietly as possible through the house. He's removed his shoes and socks since they were making it too hard for him to stealthily sneak around without Rory hearing.

His head whips around when he hears a creak upstairs and he quickly ascends them, two at a time. He creeps down the hallway and hears a door softly shutting behind him. He turns back around and walks to the end of the hall where he pulls open the closet door to find Rory squished back against the towels and blankets. "Gotcha."

"Damn it Jess, could you at least pretend like you can't find me just once? How are you so good at this anyway?" When he's about to speak she cuts him off. "Years of practice right?" She glares at him.

"No, actually. You're loud as shit." He laughs when she chucks a towel at him, which he easily dodges.

"Go hide you jerk." She grumbles as she picks up the towel and throws it back into the closet.

So far they'd played ten rounds, Jess successfully finding Rory all five times after the first minute, her taking almost five minutes each round and sometimes giving up just so he would come out.

She turns around in the hall and begins to count loudly as she hears him descend the stairs. "Ten…nine…eight…" She can hear shuffling downstairs so she hurriedly mumbles, "seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." She'd never had much patience when it came to the whole counting part. "Ready or not hear I come!" She shouts down the hall. She hears a door open and close and grins before dashing down the steps as quickly as possible without tripping. As she rounds a corner she excitedly shouts, "I so have you this time!"

Her chase comes to an abrupt halt as she stares wide-eyed at the person standing in front of the entryway. "Hey…" She says breathlessly.

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading! _PLEASE REVIEW!_ And I'd really appreciate if you could tell me what you thought of my references and their interaction. I'm trying really hard to make them seem as natural and realistic as they were in the show. Any OOC-ness, please tell me!_  
_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, thanks once again for all those lovely reviews. Glad you like the story. This chapter has less Lit. interaction (please don't kill me). But I promise the next one will. Thank you for reading! Please review to let me know how it was.**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls

**Chapter 3:**

"Grandma…" This is death. All those years of excessive eating and coffee bingeing have caught up to her at the ripe old age of sixteen. She's dead. Emily Gilmore might as well be draped in a black cloak and holding a scythe because there's no way she's coming out of this alive.

How is she _here_? Shouldn't she be at a spa right now drinking cucumber water, listening to Enya, and sitting in a tub of mud? And if _she's_ here then that means…

Rory Gilmore might have just died twice.

If her grandmother is here that can only mean her mother isn't too far behind.

"Rory, what on earth are you doing?" Emily stares at her in a state of shock. She figures she must be a sight at the moment, hair mussed, her cheeks red and her eyes wide, leaning forward in a mid-run stance, her arms slightly elevated to keep her balance.

She ignores her question. "You're home early." It's all she can muster while she stands up straight, trying to compose herself.

"My god, look at this place." Emily looks distastefully at the living room, scrunching her nose in disapproval.

Rory turns with her, looking at the disarray of crumpled napkins and take-out wrappers strewn about the coffee table. There are half-eaten burgers and fries and empty soda cans tipped over on the floor. A couple of the couch cushions are falling out of place from earlier, when Rory had made a mad dash over the couch to hide from Jess as quickly as possible. The blanket that usually rested on the couch was flung onto the carpet in her haste. A potted plant in the corner had been knocked over and some of the soil scattered over the floor.

"It looks like a zoo." She turns to stare at Rory accusingly, obviously waiting for an explanation.

"I was…really hungry." She replies lamely, wanting to disappear under her grandmother's scrutinizing gaze.

"Young lady, I come through that door and the first thing I see is you bounding down the stairs and running through the house like a mad man. There's garbage strewn about and the house is in shambles. Explain yourself." Her stance is haughty and grave, a force not to be reckoned with.

No more than twenty feet away, Jess stood petrified in the doorway of the laundry room. When Rory began to take an unusual amount of time to find him, he'd figured she'd given up once again. Creeping to the doorway, he'd immediately froze when he heard a woman's shrill and angry voice coupled with Rory's timid one.

If the woman was already in the house, what the hell was he supposed to do now? He could try and hide in the room, but he wasn't sure how long she'd be there. That could result in hours of waiting, and there was still the chance he'd be caught. He could try and sneak out the back door, but that also posed the threat of detection if he was heard or seen. His third, and most unpleasant, option would be to make himself known and let come what may.

Meanwhile Rory was having a panic attack of her own. Emily was still staring her down, eyes hard.

Maybe she could faint. Just collapse right at her grandmother's feet, pressing a hand to her forehead for dramatic effect. Emily couldn't possibly be worried about explanations while her angel of a granddaughter was reduced to a crumpled heap on the floor could she?

'No,' Rory thought sadly, 'she'd probably insist on riding in the ambulance just so she could finish her questioning.'

"Well-" She started.

"Hey sweets!" Her mother chose that perfect moment to stumble through the door, carrying a bag in each hand. Setting them down, she looked up with a smile. "We tried calling, but the line just wouldn't go through. Guess _somebody_ forgot to put the phone back in the cradle. I'm sure those late night chats with loverboy have nothing to do with the battery's very short life span." She said suggestively with an impish grin.

"So what's with the change in plans?" Rory tried to say casually, but her heart was practically beating out of her chest.

"Oh…we just felt like coming home. Missed that small town charm, you know? Well Mom doesn't live in a small town so I guess she missed…Helena. Gotta love those maids, right? Best to come back and make sure they're not pilfering the fine china and silverware…" She rambles uncomfortably, glancing at Emily. She arches an eyebrow at Rory, giving her an 'I'll explain later' look.

"Well, its good to have you back." Rory tries to say enthusiastically, but its hard to keep the worry off her face when she knows that somewhere in her house is a seventeen year old boy, one that her mother is none too fond of.

"Of course it is. No one should have to be deprived of _this_ for more than a day." She says with feigned arrogance, taking a stance and gesturing to herself. She laughs and then steps further into the house, walking towards the living room. When she looks in, she stops short, doing a double take. "Woah, I guess you really did invite those bikers huh?"

"What?" Emily interjects, her eyes widening.

"Kidding." Lorelai says quickly. "What's with the mess? You didn't join the cast of 'Animal House' right? Cause I gotta say, I would have gone with Lambda Lambda Lambda." She chuckles while looking at Rory.

"That's just what I was asking before you walked in, but I haven't gotten so much as a word out of her." Emily looked between them both, still concerned but now confused by Lorelai's babbling.

When Rory just looks at them, Lorelai begins to grow worried, frowning at her before walking over to the coffee table.

"This is from Luke's." She states confusedly. "I thought you ordered Sandeeps?"

"I did, I was." Rory stammers.

"Ok, that doesn't really explain anything babe."

"I did order the Indian food, but then I canceled it."

"So you went to Luke's and figured you'd stock up for the winter?"

"I didn't go to Luke's." Rory says with frustration. She's hugging her arms and looking at the ground.

"If you didn't go to Luke's then how did you end up with all of this?" Lorelai gestures around her, starting to get annoyed by Rory's vague responses.

"Someone brought it over." She looks around the room, obviously distraught.

"Someone? Someone who?" Lorelai's lips are stretched in a thin line.

"Someone who works at the diner." Rory knows she's walking on thin ice, but she can't gather the courage to say his name.

"Ok Rory, that's enough with the run around. Who brought it?" Lorelai says firmly.

"Jess." Rory turns her eyes to the ceiling, waiting for the onslaught.

Lorelai is momentarily speechless as she attempts to calm herself. She looks down at the floor, nodding her head sardonically while placing her hands on her hips. She looks back up and grinds her teeth, moving her jaw from side to side. "Jess."

Rory hears the disdain in her voice and sighs. "Yes."

Lorelai clears her throat. "When?"

"About an hour after you called." Rory says quietly, staring at the hardwood floors.

"Why?" Lorelai replied stonily, trying to keep her emotions at bay.

Although she now knew the real reason, she decided to use Jess's original excuse. "It was a care package from Luke. He didn't know how long you would be gone."

Lorelai nods, but she isn't satisfied. "And he sent Jess to bring it over?"

"He volunteered." She wanted to say yes, but she'd already lied too much tonight.

Lorelai laughs sarcastically, shaking her head. Of course he did.

"He just wanted to get out of the construction zone." Rory feels the need to defend him, tired of her mother's constant judgement. It's just _food_ for god's sake.

But then she remembers the fact that he's still _there_, and that effectively ends her train of thought.

"Well then he should have taken a walk." Lorelai says with an irritated sigh.

Suddenly there's a thud, like something hitting metal, and all three heads whip towards the kitchen.

"Oh my god, there's someone in the house." Emily says in hysterics.

Lorelai shoots Rory a look, more suspicious than worried, and starts determinedly walking through the kitchen.

Jess had been standing in the laundry room, intently listening to the conversation. Once he'd determined that he distinctly heard Lorelai's voice, he'd strained as hard as he could to listen to what they were arguing about. He realized they were grilling Rory about the food. When he heard his name, he took a step back, fearing they were looking for him. His foot caught onto a pile of clothing on the floor, causing him to stumble a bit and slam his elbow into the washing machine.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, clenching his jaw. _Fucking fantastic…_

When he opened them again he was faced with a pair of seriously pissed off blue eyes, glaring daggers at him. Murderous daggers.

"Living room. Now." Her tone was low and dangerous, indicating this was not the time for his smart ass remarks.

She turned sideways, allowing him room to stalk past her before following after him.

Spotting Jess coming out of the laundry room, Rory looks at him apologetically, trying to convey how incredibly sorry she is for what's coming.

He looks at her blankly.

"Who is this? Who are you?" Emily asks in rapid succession.

Jess looks at her with hostility, catching her disgusted tone.

"His name's Jess, Grandma. He's Luke's nephew." Rory mumbles miserably.

"Him?" Emily asks looking at Lorelai. "You were supposed to keep this boy away from her."

"Excuse me?" Jess asks with a scoff.

"Jess." Rory says his name pleadingly, but with a warning. He looks at her and then looks away with a sigh.

"Mom, we're not getting into that right now." Lorelai puts her hands to her temples and closes her eyes. A moment later she opens them and clears her throat. "I don't know what the hell is going on, but I better start knowing. Fast."

Rory stands awkwardly for a moment, looking at the three people around her before starting. "Like I told you, he came over to drop the food off, but then once he was here we decided to hang out for a while. We watched a couple movies and then ate some of the food. That's it."

She looks at Jess but he's staring apathetically at the wall, refusing to look at anybody.

Lorelai nods before saying quietly, "Jess I think you should leave."

More than happy to oblige, he looks once at Rory before walking around the couch and out the front door, shutting it quietly behind him.

As soon as Lorelai hears the soft click, she looks at Rory, anger showing full force. "Now I want the real story."

"That is the real story." Rory says exasperatedly. She walks past both of them and into her bedroom.

"Oh, don't you walk away from me right now." Lorelai trails after her. "What is going on with you?"

"What are you talking about?" Rory looks at her angrily.

"Why in god's name would you let him into this house when there's no one else here?"

"It's just Jess! We ate food, we watched some movies. Why are you freaking out?" Rory runs her fingers through her hair and laughs bitterly. "Wow, deja vu."

"Because it's Jess! Look, I know I said I would give him a chance but that was before I knew you guys were hanging out alone in a house together, completely unsupervised."

"Unsupervised? We don't need supervising! We were _hanging out_, that's it." She emphasizes each word, her face feeling hotter the angrier she gets.

"Oh please." Lorelai shakes her head, huffing.

"Oh please what? That's the truth, why won't you believe me?"

"Because I know what guys like him want and he's not getting it from my daughter." Lorelai says vehemently, sweeping her hands in front of her.

"_Getting_? What, like I would just let him? Because I'm so weak and easily manipulated, right?" Rory sneers in disgust. "And what do you mean 'guys like him'? You don't know anything about him, so don't act like you do!" Tears sting her eyes but she blinks them back, refusing to let them fall. "I am so tired of this."

"Of what?"

"Of fighting about this! How many times are we going to have this conversation? It's never going to change! I asked you to give him a chance and you said you would, but the first thing you do is go on a tirade about what a horrible guy he is!"

"I don't trust him Rory!"

"You're supposed to trust me!" She shouts, causing Lorelai to go speechless.

"I do." She says quietly.

"No, you clearly don't." Rory says bitterly. "If you trusted me then you would know I would never do _that_ with him and I would never lie to you about it. You want the whole truth? Fine. He came over and we folded some laundry together. Then we ate food while watching 'Airplane!' and then 'Titanic'. Then we decided to play hide and seek because I was too tired to read, and that's what we were doing when you showed up. That's why he was in the laundry room. I wasn't purposefully trying to hide him from you guys. I didn't even know you'd be home tonight." She said with a sigh, sitting down on her bed. "I didn't ask him to come over."

Lorelai stared at her silently, letting everything she'd said sink in. Rory looked so upset and dejected.

After a minute she spoke. "You guys watched 'Titanic'?"

"Yeah." Rory mumbled, looking up at her mom.

Lorelai nodded before coming to sit next to her on the bed. She looked contemplative for a moment before asking, "Did he mock it?"

Despite the situation, Rory grinned softly. "The entire time. We actually only made it through an hour."

Lorelai chuckled softly, pulling Rory against her with her left arm. "I'm sorry." She said with a sigh.

"I know." Rory said quietly.

"I do trust you Rory. You have to know that." She looked at her daughter carefully, trying to gage her reaction. "But I also know that things happen, usually when you least expect them. I know that you are a smart girl who is capable of making her own decisions. But I also know that you're sixteen and inexperienced with guys. Especially different types of guys. Dean is every mother's dream, trust me. He's sweet and considerate and completely in love with you. He's also safe," she gave Rory a pointed look, "he's never tried anything with you, even after more than a year. A mom can only be so lucky." She grinned sadly.

"And then we have Jess." She said with a sigh. She felt Rory stiffen a little and quickly continued. "No, no. Hear me out. He's pretty much every mother's nightmare. He's sarcastic and witty, handsome and sly, plus he's got that whole bad boy thing going on, a big crowd pleaser for a lot of women."

Rory rolled her eyes at this but kept quiet.

"And he's nice to you. _Only_ you. Now, I know that type of attention has to feel pretty good. And, as much as I hate to admit it, you guy's talk. Like, really talk. I mean, I have no idea what about, considering I've never heard more than two syllables out of him, but I've seen it. And all of those things coupled with his other _charming_ attributes," she said sarcastically, "can make a mother worry that _something_ might happen."

"Well nothing did." Rory said firmly, pulling back to look at Lorelai. "And nothing will. We're just friends Mom."

"That could change." Lorelai said wisely.

"Not for us." Rory looked at her lap, thinking, before quietly saying, "Jess is a good person Mom. I know you don't think so…but I know."

"Ok." Lorelai said. She was still skeptical but willing to let it go for now. " I know I said I would give him a chance but I don't know if I can Rory, and you might just have to accept that. But I do promise to at least be civil, if only for your sake. I'm sorry for jumping the gun. I just got a little freaked out, temporary insanity if you will." She smiled at Rory, squeezing her slightly before letting go.

"It's ok. I know it's just your motherly instinct to be highly irrational and somewhat hysterical when it comes to boys."

"Only certain boys." Lorelai mumbled, but held up her hands in surrender when Rory shot her a look. "Ok, ok, I'm done. So we're good again, right?"

"Definitely." Rory smiled.

"We should probably go out there and explain things to your Grandmother. That'll be fun."

"Tons." Rory said sarcastically before following her mother into the living room.

Half an hour later, they'd successfully calmed Emily down enough to explain the entire situation with only a few interjections, before she'd bid them a quick goodnight and went home.

"That woman is exhausting." Lorelai plopped down on the couch with a tired sigh. It was almost ten thirty now.

"She's your mother." Rory said in a scolding tone, sitting beside her.

"Only biologically." Lorelai mumbled, closing her eyes.

"My mistake." Rory rolled her eyes. "I guess I should clean all this up." She pouted while looking at the trash, wishing she could just go to sleep.

"No, leave it. We can get it tomorrow." Lorelai flung her arms across the back of the couch with a groan. "You know after going to a spa you'd think I'd be a little more relaxed."

"Speaking of the spa, you never did tell me what was up with you and Grandma." Rory pulled her legs up onto the couch, folding them into a pretzel and turning to face Lorelai.

Lorelai smiled before starting her story. Five minutes later her and Rory were absentmindedly munching on french fries.

"Apparently that lipstick company forgot to put a warning label on the side: The use of this product will, in fact, turn you into a Viscous Trollop."

Rory laughed before saying, "I can't believe Grandma called herself an adulterer."

"Well there's no denying it now. I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Lorelai grinned.

"Hmm, I wonder how Grandpa's taking this development."

"Who knows, with all that talk about horseradish, maybe he'd like to spice things up a bit."

"Gross." Rory makes a face of utter disgust before tossing a pillow at Lorelai.

"Sorry, sorry, mustn't tarnish those virgin ears." Lorelai laughs before standing up and stretching. "Well, Mommy's tired, off to bed I go. Night sweets." She kisses Rory on the cheek before walking over to the staircase.

"Night Mom." Rory says quietly. "And thanks…for understanding." She looks over and smiles.

"Aw, anytime." Lorelai says before walking upstairs. As soon as she's out of Rory's sight she sighs quietly, looking a little forlorn. "Anytime." She repeats softly before walking into her room.

Rory hears her mother's door shut quietly and gets off the couch, grabbing the cordless phone on the way to her room. Shutting the door softly, she dials while lying back on her bed.

"Hello." She smiles at his voice, noting that it sounds a little more boyish over the phone.

"Hey."

"Hey. What's up?" He asks, setting his book on his nightstand, placing his arm behind his head.

"Just wanted to make sure everything turned out okay. With Luke, I mean. Was it bad?" She shifts on her bed, closing her eyes contentedly.

"All my limbs are accounted for, if that's what you mean. He yelled, I yelled, and all is as it should be."

"I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have lied. Maybe he wouldn't have been so mad." She bites her lip, worried that she may have gotten him into trouble.

"Nah, it was better this way." It's silent on the other end, and he likes to imagine that she's smiling. "What about you? Any casualties?"

"Surprisingly no. We did our share of yelling, but I guess we came to an understanding."

"Sorry about that." He mumbles.

"It's fine. I mean, once I got her calmed down beyond the initial screech, I was able to explain everything."

"Should I be worried?" He asks with a lopsided grin.

"No, I think she's harnessed her violent tendencies. But if I'm wrong, a good cup of coffee can usually quell the savage Gilmore."

"I'll remember that." He chuckles. It's quiet for a moment before he speaks. "So about this Roark guy…" He begins, picking his book up from the desk.

Rory smiled widely, rolling over onto her stomach.

Twenty minutes later she looked to her right and saw that it was after eleven. With a sigh she said, "Hey, sorry to interrupt but it's getting kind of late. I should probably go to sleep."

"Right. Plans with Lorelai tomorrow?" He figured that maybe they were smoothing things over.

"Um, no actually. I'm hanging out with…" She trailed off, feeling uncomfortable.

"Ah." He said in realization.

She couldn't help but notice he sounded less than thrilled at her admission. "Yeah." She said quietly.

"I'll let you go then. Night Rory."

"Goodnight Jess." At the sound of the dial tone, she clicked the 'end' button, bringing the phone up to rest against her chest.

After a minute she set it on her nightstand with a sigh. She stood up to change into her pajamas, then quickly returned to bed after shutting off her light.

Lying under her covers, surrounded by darkness, she closed her eyes with a frown.

But sleep didn't come.

* * *

**See, no cliffhanger this time! I bet that's a relief. You guys were just dying for Dean to be at the door haha. I hope you liked my twist though. This is, after all, a remake and in my world Dean would have never shown up in the first place. He will definitely be in the next chapter though. Thank you for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I think the actual episode of 'There's the Rub' occurred on a Friday but I'm changing mine to a Saturday so today is Sunday. I also added a few of my own changes to the town, like the thing about Al's. But hey, it could be true haha. Anyway thank you to all my amazing readers and reviewers. I noticed I have over twenty alerts but not as many reviews. I see some of you are silent participants haha. I would appreciate the reviews, but I'm glad to have you reading none the less. That being said, this deals with more characters and different perspectives so I hope you enjoy it!  
**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.

**Chapter: 4  
**

Rolling onto his back, Jess silently stared at the ceiling, following patterns in the stucco with his eyes. The sunlight streaming in through the window cast shadows over the room, making the peaks in the plaster stretch in various directions. He imagined if he were very small, the size of dust, those peaks would be like mountains. Of course, if he were to somehow hike these mountains, he'd need to learn how to defy gravity first. And also gain a sudden appreciation for the great outdoors.

He closed his eyes and couldn't help but grin. He was even a smart-ass in his own mind.

He glanced to his left and sighed when he saw that it was already seven thirty, a fact Luke would be sure to remind him of if he didn't get out of bed in about ten seconds. Since he was already on Luke's shit list about the other night, he figured he should probably start getting ready before the cavalry arrived.

He swung his legs off the bed and ambled into the bathroom with a yawn.

A half-hour later he stepped out of the bathroom in his boxers, towel drying his hair as he walked to his dresser. He dropped the towel on the floor and pulled open his top drawer, pushing clothes aside before pulling out a gray thermal and a simple black T-shirt. He tossed them on his bed before opening the second drawer and grabbing a pair of worn blue jeans. He pulled the jeans on and was zipping them up when the apartment door opened.

"Oh, good you're up." Luke said with a hint of surprise, used to his morning ritual of a game that he liked to call 'Wake the Sullen Teenager'.

"Yup." Jess said with a pop of his lips. He finished buttoning his pants before grabbing his thermal and pulling it over his head. He adjusted it to his torso, pulling the creases out before grabbing his black T-shirt and placing it over top. He glanced quickly in the mirror as he yanked on the short sleeves, making sure they weren't bunched up. From the corner of his eye he could see Luke walk over to the table and take a seat, folding his hands on his knees.

"Well that's good, that you're up, I mean." Luke cleared his throat and shifted in his chair.

Jess chose not to reply as he grabbed his jar of pomade and twisted off the lid. Looking inside, he realized there was barely any left, certainly not enough to style his hair with.

"Shit." He said quietly, screwing the lid back on and tossing it in a nearby garbage can.

"Watch your mouth." Luke muttered under his breath.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I was living with Emily Post, my mistake." Jess said sarcastically.

"Wise ass." Luke mumbled with a growl.

Jess smirked as he looked at himself in the mirror, pushing his hair around in different ways. He let out a frustrated sigh at its lack of cooperation and finally just shook his head quickly, letting his hair fall where it may.

"Nice." Luke said sarcastically, watching as the hair fell in random directions, curling over his forehead and ears. "Towel?" He pointed out irritably as Jess stepped over the sopping wet article, leaving it to soak the carpet. Luke just _loved_ that mildew smell.

"I'm going to Doose's." Jess said as he slipped a pair of socks on, followed by his boots. He stood up and grabbed a light jacket and some cash before walking towards the door. "I'll be back."

"Hey, Jess, wait a second." Luke stood up.

"What?" Jess said impatiently, his hand resting on the doorknob.

"Would you just sit for a minute." Luke said in frustration, pulling him by the shoulder to sit at the kitchen table.

Jess slumped down in a chair and looked expectantly at Luke, annoyance evident by his scowl.

"So I heard you were over at Rory's yesterday." Luke started awkwardly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You did?" Jess asked uninterestedly, running his fingers over the tabletop.

"Yeah, she said you stopped by to give her a care package or something." Luke said with a hint of confusion.

"Well, if Rory said it, it must be true right?" Jess said sarcastically.

"Shut up for five seconds." Luke said irritably, shooting Jess a look. Jess sighed but closed his mouth. After a moment Luke said quietly, "I didn't know you and her were such good friends."

"We're not exactly as close as you and Taylor, but…" Jess rolled his eyes.

"Do you…guys hang out much?" Luke questioned, scratching his neck.

"If you got something you wanna say, just say it." Jess replied.

"What are you doing Jess?" Luke said with a sigh.

"I thought we were having a heart-to-heart Luke, guess I was wrong."

"She's got a boyfriend." Luke said, giving him a stern look.

"So that's the freakishly tall guy who's always following her around?" Jess deadpanned with a shake of his head. He stood up and put on his jacket. "I'm leaving."

"You need to let it go." Luke persisted as he stood up and followed Jess to the door.

"Don't wait up." Jess said as he attempted to open the door but Luke held it closed.

"You shouldn't be talking to her on the phone at night, Jess." Luke grabbed his arm and attempted to turn him back to the room.

Jess ripped his arm away with a sneer. "You were listening in?"

"Have you looked around lately? We live in a shoebox, your bed is twenty feet away from mine, it's not as if I had to hover above you with a glass to my ear." Luke said, gesturing widely with his arms. "I could hear you from across the room."

"So that gives you the right to listen to my conversations?" Jess asked in disgust.

"No, the fact that this is _my_ apartment and _my_ phone gives me the right to listen to your conversations." Luke said in a raised voice.

"Who I talk to and when I talk to them is my business." Jess said, matching his tone.

"Not when it affects people that I know."

"Rory's a big girl Luke."

"That doesn't mean she always makes the smartest decisions." Luke said scathingly, but a moment later he regretted it. He watched as Jess clenched his jaw and looked at the floor. He'd obviously struck a nerve.

"And I'm at the top of that list, right?" Jess said coldly before opening the apartment door and exiting down the hall.

"Jess, I didn't mean…" Luke started, but he was already gone. He ran his hands over his face with a sigh before turning back into the room and taking a seat at the table.

Jess rounded the corner and angrily pushed the curtain aside, glancing up to see Caesar giving him a questioning look. He just shook his head and grabbed a coffeepot, pouring himself a cup and snapping on a lid. He grabbed a doughnut and hurriedly ate it before walking around the counter, coffee in hand. It was then that he glanced to his left to see Rory and Lorelai seated a few feet away at a table by the window.

Rory looked up and saw Jess staring at her from across the room. She smiled lightly before looking back to her mother. "I'll get the check."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later tonight. Have fun with Dean." Lorelai replied, eating her last piece of bacon before standing and grabbing her purse.

"Have fun with Michel." Rory said with a smile.

"Oh, don't I always?" Lorelai replied sarcastically before leaving the diner with a wave.

As soon as Lorelai was gone, Jess approached the table. "Hey." He said softly.

"Hey yourself." Rory replied. "You're up early."

"Actually, I'm up on time." He said with a smirk.

"My mistake." She said. "Can I pay?

"Sure." He replied before making his way over to the counter.

She followed behind him, stopping in front of the register. "So where's Luke? I thought I saw him down here a minute ago."

"Upstairs." He replied distractedly as he flipped through the orders, stopping when he found hers.

"I'm thinking I should mention that care package again." She smiled wickedly as he shot her a playful glare.

"I wouldn't if I were you, I don't think someone had their Wheaties this morning." He nodded his head in the direction of the curtain.

"Did something happen?" She asked worriedly, noticing the little frown on his face.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." He replied as he took the twenty-dollar bill from her outstretched hand.

"Was it about last night?" She asked with more concern, hoping they still weren't fighting over that. It was so trivial.

"No, don't worry about it." He said in a definitive way while handing her the change.

"Okay." She replied uncertainly but let it slide. After stuffing the change into her pocket she looked up at him and noticed something. "Hey, your hair is different."

"Yeah, I was on my way over to Doose's. I ran out of pomade this morning." He pushed a hand through his hair, making it even more disheveled as it flopped back against his forehead.

Rory giggled quietly. "You sure you don't want to call ahead and tell them to order an extra shipment?"

"I don't use that much." He glared at her.

"Or better yet, I bet that super glue you bought could do wonders. You wouldn't have to style your hair for a week." She laughed as he scowled at her.

"You're funny." He said sarcastically, taking a sip from his almost forgotten coffee.

"I'm just kidding." She grinned at his annoyance. "It's so weird seeing it all over the place. It's usually so precise."

"You've seen it like this before." He pointed out.

"Yeah, but only once and it was more combed. I'm just used to the pompadour." She thought back to the bid-a-basket contest and smiled.

"It is _not_ a pompadour." He said firmly, pointing a finger at her.

"It's very Presley-esque." She smirked.

"I can't believe you just said that." He said with a groan.

"Hey, Elvis Presley is cool, you should take that as a compliment."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes at her.

She was silent for a moment, softly looking over him. "But…it looks nice like this too." She admitted quietly before looking down at the counter and fidgeting with her sleeve.

He half-smiled and looked down at his coffee cup before looking back at her. "Yeah?"

When she heard him speak she looked up from beneath her lashes to see him looking warmly at her. Happy that he hadn't teased her, she smiled back. "Yeah."

"Guess Doose's won't be needing that extra shipment." He replied.

"I think what they have in stock will do." She agreed with a nod.

Glancing behind her, his good mood immediately soured as he looked through the glass. "Guess you should be going."

His sudden change in tone made her look at him in confusion but he was staring impassively behind her. She turned her head and saw Dean looking at her through the glass, his expression unreadable.

"I guess so." She conceded. "Could I get a cup of coffee first?"

He simply nodded and poured her a cup. She handed him three dollars and as he attempted to hand her the change she said, "Keep it."

He dropped the money back into the register and shut it. "See ya later."

"Maybe I'll stop by if…" She trailed off, feeling the inexplicable need to say something. For some reason, she didn't want to just leave it at 'later'.

"Yeah." He replied vaguely.

"Okay. Well, bye." She said before walking out the door. Quickly masking her strange sense of disappointment, she smiled brightly at her boyfriend. "Hey, have you been out here long?"

"Long enough." He replied quietly. She frowned at his somber response. "You guys seem very chatty." He nodded his head toward the diner, and she could only assume he was talking about Jess.

"Not really. I was just paying." She looked at him carefully.

"I didn't realize it took that much conversation to calculate the correct tip." He replied sarcastically. He began to slowly walk down the street and Rory followed along side him.

"Dean." She said quietly.

He stopped walking and sighed heavily in aggravation. "I know, he's your friend. It's just…I really hate him."

"I know that, but I don't know what you expect me to do." She said with a hint of exasperation.

"I don't expect anything…I just…I get worried sometimes. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't." She said firmly. "I know you hate him, and I accept that, but I think he's a good guy and I need you to trust me on that."

"I don't know what you see in him." He replied quietly but relented when he saw her annoyed expression. "Okay, I'm done. Let's just forget about it." He tried to smile at her but it came out half-hearted.

"Thank you." She replied quietly. She stepped closer to him and allowed him to wrap his arm around her shoulder before they started walking again. Trying to lift the tense mood that had settled over them she said, "So, I did promise that this was your day and I am a woman of my word. Any thoughts on what we should do?"

"I was thinking we could rent a couple of movies and head over to your house."

"Sounds good. Anything in particular? Ooh, ooh, we should do a John Hughes marathon. Vacation, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and Planes, Trains, & Automobiles." She smiled in excitement.

"Sounds good. Should we pick up some junk now or do you just want to order in?" He smiled, glad that she was in a good mood.

"Oh." She faltered, remembering the mess that was currently in her living room. Her and Lorelai had said they would clean it up in the morning, but after her sleepless night she had been too brain dead to function until she'd had her morning coffee. "You know, why don't you go to the market and grab some junk and I'll head to the video store and pick up the movies. Then we can meet up at the house." She replied hastily, already calculating the distance between her current position in the center of town and the coffee table in her living room. She panicked, realizing she'd never be able to make it in time.

"Okay." He said slowly, giving her an odd look. "I'll see you in a little while." He leaned down and gave her a short kiss and a smile before walking in the direction of Doose's.

As soon as he was in the market, Rory hurriedly ran around the corner and pulled out her cell phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she hit send and held the phone to her ear anxiously.

"Hello, Kim's Antiques, how may I help you?" Mrs. Kim answered in her falsely sweet 'customer' voice.

"Hello Mrs. Kim, its Rory."

"Oh, Rory." Mrs. Kim said in her normal brusque tone.

"Could I please speak to Lane?"

"Yes, one moment." She heard some shuffling as the phone exchanged hands.

"Rory, hey!" Lane said cheerfully.

"Hey, listen I would love to talk, but right now I need a huge favor, and fast, like five minutes ago fast." Rory rambled, glancing around anxiously.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Lane replied quickly.

"I need you to go over to my house and throw away anything you find on the coffee table. Any wrappers or trash or food, just toss it."

"Wait, what?" Lane replied in disbelief.

"Dean's coming over and he can't find all that stuff in my living room or he'll completely flip and we'll get in a huge fight of monumental proportions. Please, please say you can do it." Rory asked desperately.

"Rory, I'm kind of lost right now. You want me to sneak into your house and throw away your garbage because if I don't you and Dean are going to get into a fight? Wow, he must really hate filthiness. I never knew he was such a germaphobe."

"Lane, I'm serious. I know this sounds absolutely insane, and it is, but I really need you to do this for me. And I promise, later tonight or tomorrow morning I will explain everything to you in complete detail." Rory finished with a sigh, mentally crossing her fingers.

"Okay, I'll do it. But I want serious details, quantum physics, that's the level of depth we're talking here." Lane conceded.

"Thank you, thank you, so much! We'll be there in about fifteen minutes, so try to sneak out before then."

"Alright, bye. Details!" Lane shouted quickly.

"They will abound!" Rory answered before shutting her phone. She ran a hand over her head, pushing a few wisps of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail back into place. She calmed herself before walking to the video store.

Walking side by side, their arms brushing, Rory's heart was pounding. She'd never been a very religious person, but right now she was praying to any god that would hear her. She glanced at Dean, hoping he couldn't sense her obvious discomfort. As she walked up the porch steps and twisted the handle she counted down from three.

She closed her eyes. Three, two, one…

Pushing the door open, she walked into the living room and almost raised her arms in victory. Everything was gone. All the couch cushions had been rearranged, the plant and soil cleaned, and there was no sign of Luke's food or that anyone had been there the previous night. _Relief._

She walked into her bedroom and dropped her jacket onto the bed. As she turned to leave she saw a bright pink post-it on her headboard.

'_Quantum physics!'_

She smiled at Lane's handwriting and pealed the note from the wood.

"What's that?" She heard from behind her. She quickly crumpled the paper into a ball and turned to look at Dean.

"Oh, nothing. Just a note from my mom." She tossed it into her trashcan and gestured to the hallway. "So, which movie first?"

They had finished The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, and Weird Science. Currently they were halfway through Vacation, munching on pizza and popcorn. Dean was seated on the right side of the couch and Rory at the other end with her feet settled in his lap. He was absentmindedly rubbing her calves with his left hand while eating with his right.

"Hey Dean, could you hand me a soda?" She asked without taking her eyes off the screen.

"Sure." He replied, twisting to grab her one.

Rory looked over and watched his shirt move up his back. His skin was somewhat tan; a product of his time spent playing basketball in the summer. It was smooth, devoid of any marks. For some reason she found herself frowning.

"Do you have a birthmark?" She asked for the second time in two days. She couldn't explain it, but she felt hopeful for one certain response.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" He asked, knitting his eyebrows.

"Can I see it?" She ignored his question, feeling foolish for being hopeful.

"Okay." He said slowly, thoroughly confused. He simply rolled over his left arm and presented it to her.

Near the crease of his elbow was a mark.

"Oh…it's a circle." She replied quietly. Not really. It was more of a shapeless blob, but circle was the simplest way to describe it. It was ordinary, barely noticeable unless you looked carefully.

She chastised herself for the odd sense of disappointment she felt, thinking of diamonds and olive skin.

He dropped his arm back onto her legs. "Do you have one?" He asked with a grin.

She looked back at him, slowly shaking her head. "No…no I don't." She swallowed the guilty lump in her throat and turned back to the TV.

He looked at her carefully, watching the light from the screen glide across her face. He sighed inaudibly before looking back at the movie.

Rory clicked the 'off' button on the remote an hour later, watching as the screen went black. She looked at Dean and smiled. "I'm kind of hungry."

"We just ate two pizzas an hour ago." He laughed.

"That's practically malnourishment." She smiled.

"Yes, you're clearly a skeleton." He rolled his eyes playfully.

"Oh, so now I'm fat huh?" She grinned at him.

He narrowed his eyes at her and she giggled.

"Can we please go eat? I really am starving." She pouted and a moment later her stomach growled. She shot him a look.

"You did that on purpose." He mumbled but stood up and grabbed her hand. "Where do you want to go?"

She glanced at the clock, noting it was already seven. She knew Al's closed early on Sunday so she picked the next logical place. "Luke's?"

He sighed. "Luke's?"

She frowned. "Yeah, you love Luke's. It has the best burgers in town."

"That's not all it has." Dean mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rory asked accusingly.

"Just that you hang out there an awful lot, and I'm not so sure it's for the food anymore."

"I don't hang out there that much." She said defensively.

"Oh please, every moment that's not spent here or at school you're over there." He said angrily.

"Not true. I go to your house, I go to Lane's, I go to the inn, all of which are _not_ Luke's." She replied.

"Barely." He said with a scoff. "When you're with Lane where do you hang out? When I meet you in the morning where do we go for breakfast? And you and I hardly see each other as it is without him always being right behind us. It's like he's always around!" He said angrily, raising his arms in frustration.

"He lives here!" She shouted in response.

"God, I wish he would just go back to New York and stop messing with everyone's lives." He clenched his jaw.

"Dean, that's horrible." She said in disgust. "At least here he actually has someone that cares about him. He's trying to better himself but you won't give him a chance!"

"When has he ever given me reason to?" He asked. "I tried being nice to him but he's a complete jerk."

"He had only been here for a few months Dean, he was still adjusting. He's different once you get to know him."

"Do you really think he's like that with everyone? No, he only acts that way because he likes you Rory! He wants you for himself!" He shouted, fed up with the charade. He was so tired of denying it. No matter how much he pretended it wasn't true, it didn't make it go away.

"No he doesn't! We're just friends!" She shouted back, tears stinging her eyes.

"It's so obvious Rory! Everyone can see it. Everyone!" He finished, breathing heavily. He swallowed hard, trying to control his emotions.

"So what if he does? That doesn't change anything." Rory replied as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She hastily wiped it away.

"I can't deal with that Rory. Knowing that he's always looking at you, thinking about you. He's gonna keep trying and I can't do a thing to stop it." He said sadly. "I can't sit around and wait for you to change your mind. Maybe you already have."

"No, no, Dean, please look at me." She said desperately, stepping forward to take his hands. She reached one hand up to turn his face toward her. The anguish and hurt in his eyes made her heart ache painfully. "I haven't, I haven't changed my mind. I love you; I'm with you. Please believe that." Tears rolled down her cheeks, dropping onto her shirt.

"I want to." He said quietly, blinking his eyes as he watched her jaw tremble lightly, eyes wide and glistening with tears. "But I don't know if I can anymore."

"Please." She said shakily, squeezing his hand tighter.

"I just need some time to think." He replied, softly pulling his hand out of hers.

"Time, okay. How much time?" She asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't know. I think I'm just gonna go." He said quietly.

"Just…believe me." She said eagerly. "How will I know when you're done?"

"I'll find you." He said calmly. He gently caressed her elbow before opening the door and leaving the house.

Rory opened her mouth and a small sound escaped before she closed it, continually swallowing the enormous lump in her throat. Her chest felt like it was imploding and she couldn't breathe.

She slowly turned from the door and collapsed onto the couch, silently staring at the wall.

**Yes, Dean has landed. And I know many of you faithful Literati lovers are probably like, 'hey what gives? she's all broken up and stuff.' Well, I always felt Rory realled cared about Dean and this story takes place some months before she actually fully acknowledged her feelings for Jess, so I think her reactions are appropriate. Also, I hate when people make Dean/Rory fights way over the top and him seem completely inhuman. He was a nice guy, he just had some faults, as do we all. And this won't be the last of Dean, just so you know. This is a literati though, so don't be discouraged. Rory/Jess will prevail haha. I hope you enjoyed some of the cute Lit. moments I included. Please let me know what you thought of my other interactions, like with Luke and Jess. Thank you for reading and _please review!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**Finally, chapter five! I hope you like it. Thank you for reading,_ please review!_**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.

**Chapter: 5**

"Okay, for the next hour we're pretending your name is Hans, you were born in Belgium, and you immigrated to the U.S. at the age of eighteen to pursue your life long dream of becoming a masseur because I think my feet might be permanently fused in the tiptoe position." Lorelai groaned as she kicked her heels off in the hallway and winced when her aching feet met the cold hardwood floor. She slipped out of her coat and threw it on a hanger before walking towards the living room. "Babe?"

Rory sniffled slightly and turned her head towards her mom. "Hey." She said weakly before turning back to her large bowl of chocolate chip ice cream.

"Oh, Rory!" Lorelai said, concern filling her voice, as she immediately walked over and sat down beside her daughter. "Sweetie, what happened?"

"It was so awful Mom." Rory sobbed for a moment before breathing in sharply, trying to steady her emotions. "One minute everything was going great, normal, and then the next we were just screaming at each other. I don't even know what happened." She shook her head as a new wave of tears hit her.

"You and Dean?" Lorelai blew out an astonished breath. "I don't understand. I thought everything was going great." She pursed her lips and gave Rory a questioning look.

"So did I." Rory stirred the spoon in her bowl, creating a slurry of chocolate chips and vanilla ice cream. "We were watching a movie and I mentioned that I was hungry, and I don't know, I guess I said something about possibly going to Luke's…"

"Oh, not good." Lorelai winced and gave her a sympathetic look.

"And then he just snapped." Rory licked her lips in a dumbfounded way. She let out a small huff as she ran a hand through her hair. "He started saying all this stuff about how I'm constantly over there and the only reason I go anymore is to see Jess. I couldn't help it, I just got so angry and upset that I started yelling back, but then he got this look on his face like…" She trailed off and swallowed hard. "He just looked _so_ upset. And so hurt, I didn't even know what to do. I've never seen him like that before. And when I told him I loved him it was like…like he didn't even believe me."

"Honey." Lorelai reached out and pulled Rory to her, rubbing her back in a motherly way. She pulled back a little and brushed some hair out of Rory's face. She put her hands on her arms before saying, "Dean knows that you love him. Anybody would have to be crazy not to see that."

"But he sounded so unsure, like he really didn't know anymore." Rory wiped at her face with trembling fingers. "I thought I was being a good girlfriend, I thought I was being attentive and caring-"

"Hey, stop right there." Lorelai said firmly. "You are a crazy awesome kid and the best girl a guy could ever hope to have. You have been so good to Dean. You call him, you see him, you dressed up like Donna Reed for him for God's sake." Rory couldn't help but let out a sporadic spurt of laughter through her tears. "This is in no way your fault."

"What if you're wrong? What if I have been doing something that I shouldn't have. Maybe I shouldn't have been going to the diner so much." Rory's voice picked up in speed as a small dose of panic set in.

"Maybe you need to chill out." Lorelai planted her arms solidly on Rory's shoulders and gave them a firm squeeze. "Let's focus, shall we?" She took a deep breath before staring at Rory intently. "Now, have you kissed Jess?"

Rory's mouth hung open for a minute before she spluttered for a response. "No!"

"Have you wanted to?"

Rory's face burned a deep crimson. "No!"

Lorelai eyed the blush on her daughter's cheeks but proceeded with her line of questioning. "Have you guys been sneaking around behind Dean's back for secret late night trysts among the ketchup dispensers and salt shakers?"

"Of course not!" Rory's voice rose in indignation.

"Then, Rory, you did nothing wrong!" Lorelai said definitively. "You haven't cheated, you haven't even thought about cheating. You've been completely loyal and faithful and whatever is going on with Dean is his own problem. I'd have to say it sounds like he's feeling very insecure."

"I just don't understand. I don't know why he's feeling that way. I mean, he doesn't even know about yesterday." She said quietly for a moment before her eyes widened and she looked at her mom, panic stricken. "Oh my god, you don't think he found out do you?"

"Well, did he say anything about it?"

"No." Rory said a little breathlessly.

"Then I think it's safe to say he didn't. I doubt that's something he would keep to himself."

"Yeah, yeah you're right." Rory swallowed hard and nodded, some of her composure returning.

"I hate that he's making you doubt yourself like this." Lorelai gave her a concerned look.

"It was just so sudden, that was the first thing that came to mind. But, I'm okay now. I don't know what I was thinking; of course I've been a good girlfriend." She said with a little more confidence and a reassuring nod.

"Aw, that's my little trooper." Lorelai grinned in relief, happy that Rory was acting like her usual confident self.

"Thanks for letting me know that I was acting like an irrational bimbo." Rory sighed and leaned against Lorelai's shoulder.

"Hmm, I don't think you could handle being a full blonde just yet." She gave Rory a squeeze before standing up. "So when do you think you'll see him?"

"I'm not sure. He said he needed time to think and that he'd find me when he was done." She gave a half-hearted shrug and looked down at her lap.

"Ugh, men. How much time is 'time'?" Lorelai made a disgusted face. "Hey, I say if he's not groveling at your feet by the end of the week, begging for your forgiveness, he's certifiably insane. It'll be his loss, not yours."

"Thanks Mom." She smiled softly at Lorelai who returned it warmly before walking up the stairs to her bedroom.

* * *

"Aw, that sucks, big time." Lane pulled at one of Colonel Clucker's feathers as her and Rory sat cross-legged on Rory's bed.

"Tell me about it." Rory mumbled as she flopped back onto her pillows.

"And he walked out, just like that?"

"He said he needed time." Rory sighed and shrugged her shoulders as best she could.

"Time? Like 'Planet of the Apes' kind of time?" Lane tossed the Colonel onto the foot of the bed.

"God, I hope not." Rory's faced scrunched discontentedly.

"I'm just trying to get into the right frame of mind here."

"My mom gives him a week."

"Hmm, I give him three days." Lane said with a resolute nod.

"Hey, this isn't 'Maverick', I didn't ask you to place your bet." Rory shot her a pointed look.

"You're right, sorry." Lane gave her an apologetic cringe.

"Lane, what do I do?" Rory asked miserably with a slight pout.

"Give him space?" She answered uneasily.

"That sounds so lame." Rory swung her legs off the bed and walked over to the CD player.

"I know, definitely not my best advice as of late." Lane shrugged. "But what else can you do? It's not like you can force him to talk."

"That's the worst part. If I push him it'll make everything worse, but just sitting around doing nothing makes it feel like I'm losing him even more." Rory flipped through her CD's slowly. She lifted two and turned to her best friend. "Aesop Rock or Pulp?"

"Which Aesop?"

"Float?" Rory shook the CD's slightly in her hands. At Lane's nod she removed the CD from its case and put it in before returning to her spot on the bed.

"Do you really think you're losing him?" Lane asked hesitantly.

"It feels that way. The past couple of months have just been…weird." Rory said with a resigned shake of her head.

"There's definitely been some drama." Lane nodded in agreement.

"I never thought dating would be this complicated." Rory picked at a thread on her sheet.

"That's because your innocence has you ill-prepared for the world's harsh ways." At Rory's glare she relented. "I'm _kidding_. Besides, I think we've both seen enough episodes of 'Beverly Hills, 90210' to understand that relationships are very tricky."

"I guess I should be thankful he hasn't slept with Kelly Taylor yet." Rory cracked a smile.

"That's always a good sign." Lane grinned back.

* * *

Rory idly swung her legs back and forth, the tips of her converse barely skimming the water's surface. She shivered as the breeze blew softly, casting a few fallen leaves onto the pond's edge, and pulled her jacket closer. She sighed softly as she turned another page of 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'.

"Too young to be a beatnik and too old to be a hippie."

Rory glanced up and smiled momentarily before turning her attention back to the page in her hand. "Hey."

"Hey." Jess walked leisurely across the old wooden planks, scuffing the heels of his boots with each step. He smirked as he watched Rory's expression slowly turn to aggravation due to his noisy approach. She hated having her concentration broken.

He stood behind her and peered over her shoulder, knowing she hated that as well. When she refused to close her book he frowned slightly before lowering himself to sit beside her. "What's with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't even comment on my Kesey reference."

"I'm concentrating." Rory continued to stare at her book, though it was obvious the words were long forgotten.

"You haven't been by the diner in a few days." Jess rested his weight on the palms of his hands as he stretched his arms behind him.

"You keeping track?" She said with a little bite to it, turning a page to feign indifference.

"It's kind of hard not to notice your absence." He drawled lazily in a flirtatious tone and gave her a sideways glance.

Rory felt her cheeks flush with a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure. She quickly glanced at him and blushed deeper as she caught his amused expression.

Jess smirked in satisfaction at her revealing discomfort, reveling in his ability to so easily rile her.

She cleared her throat softly before speaking. "I've been busy."

"Or you've been avoiding it." He countered knowingly. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She answered curtly.

"Okay." He said with a sigh. He extracted a cigarette from his pocket and rolled it between his thumb and index finger.

They sat in silence for a moment, Rory still keeping up her 'reading' charade, and Jess idly rolling the cigarette between his fingers.

Finally Rory sighed and closed her book. "There is…something."

"What happened to nothing?" He asked smartly.

"Fine, forget it." She narrowed her eyes a little.

"I'm just messing with you." He grinned slightly. "Come on, tell me."

"Dean and I had a fight." She stared at the water and dipped the toe of her shoe in, watching the resonating circles.

"Seem to be having a lot of those lately." He commented offhandedly.

"Yeah, well, I've just kind of been in a funk for the past couple days."

"You guys haven't made up?" His brow furrowed slightly.

"We haven't talked in four days." She stated miserably, slapping the sole of her shoe against the water.

"Why not?"

"He's…thinking." She sighed before pulling her legs into a pretzel.

"Thinking?" Jess asked with an incredulous scoff. "About what, how Taylor can afford to sell those green beans at five bucks a can?"

"I don't know, whether or not he wants to be with me." She said bitterly with an exasperated huff.

Jess was silent for a moment, momentarily shocked at her outburst and all that it implied. "Do you want him to want to be with you?"

"What?" Rory's head snapped to the side as she stared at him in disbelief.

"You said things have been weird lately and you've been fighting more. Maybe it's for the best." He shrugged slightly.

"This is how you comfort somebody?" She glared at him and folded her arms.

"I'm not trying to comfort you, I'm being honest." He finally lifted his forgotten cigarette to his lips and lit it quickly, inhaling deeply.

She snorted. "That's a first."

He grinned at her evasive response, knowing she didn't want to explore the possibilities of his words. "No, I'm serious."

"We've been together for more than a year." She stated as if it were justification.

"So were Ike and Tina, you see how well that turned out for them."

"We have no reason to break up."

"Other than the two I've just stated." He flicked some ash into the water.

"Whatever, I'm done talking about this." She huffed and looked away from him.

He nodded his head and took a slow drag.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" She suddenly asked, turning her body so she was directly facing his side.

"About what?" He asked nonchalantly, staring straight ahead.

"Don't act stupid, you know what." She looked at him expectantly.

"I don't care." He denied, finishing his cigarette and flicking it into the pond.

"Oh really?" She glared at the side of his head.

"Really." He turned his head to fully look at her, challenging her confident expression.

"Then why do you sound so interested?"

"Hey, I just gave you a suggestion, I didn't say you had to follow through with it. Do whatever you want." He held up his hands in a sign of surrender.

"So if I decided to stay with him, that wouldn't bother you at all?" She was beginning to surprise herself with the blunt force of her accusations.

"Where is this coming from?" He pulled his feet onto the bridge and folded them to mirror her position.

"N-nowhere." She fumbled.

He smirked. He caught her. "Again with the evasion."

"Well I learned from the best." She raised her eyebrows. When he continued to stare at her she looked at her lap with a sigh. "Forget I said anything."

"Why?" He stared at her unabashedly.

"Because I don't want to talk about it."

"Tough." He leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms against his thighs.

"It's embarrassing." She fidgeted and looked out into the trees.

"So is that fact that you like 'Savage Garden'."

Her mouth dangled slightly. "That's a low blow. 'Sugar Ray'."

"I would proudly admit I liked 'Sugar Ray' if it came down to that and 'Savage Garden'."

"That's so not fair, you heard me listening to them one time. That doesn't mean I like them."

"No, but the fact that you knew every word to every song does."

"You know the words to 'Fly'."

"That pales in comparison to belting out 'Truly, Madly, Deeply'."

"Ha! You know the title to one of their songs." He stared at her with a victorious expression. "This is extortion. I never got to clean _your_ rain gutters and thereby discover all your guilty pleasures."

"I can safely say all of my guilty pleasures are no where near as bad as liking 'Savage Garden'."

"Well I won't be satisfied until I have proof." She said with a shrug.

He chuckled quietly. "You know you're avoiding the inevitable right? Eventually you're gonna crack."

"Gilmores have been known to be very obstinate." She raised her chin slightly.

"That's one way of putting it." He smirked.

"You're such a gentleman." She wrinkled her nose.

"I'm just trying to fit in with the crowd." He stretched his arms over his head and yawned.

Rory watched the thin T-shirt beneath his open denim jacket stretch across his chest as he took a deep breath.

Jess kept his expression stoic as he watched her eyes dart across his torso before flickering up to his face. He met her gaze with a silent question.

"You're gonna laugh." She frowned slightly.

"I won't." He stated simply. At her hesitance he elaborated. "I _swear_, I won't laugh."

"The fight…that me and Dean had the other day was…oh my god, I can't believe I'm saying this," she paused for a moment as she wrung her hands, "it was about you."

He nodded his head and kept a calm expression. "What about me?"

"He thinks…he thinks that you like me." She let out a short nervous chuckle. She twisted the bracelet on her wrist, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Ah." Well, he was right, he wouldn't laugh. He swallowed hard and looked down at his lap, expression completely impassive.

Rory glanced up to find him staring unwaveringly at his lap. Her heartbeat sped up a little, not expecting that type of response. She expected him to laugh, despite his promises to the contrary, or to brush it off as bullshit, not to have this intensely serious expression. "Ridiculous, right?" She let out another nervous laugh, but it sounded forced and unnatural.

"What do you think?" He asked quietly, finally lifting his head to stare at her intently. He let his head roll to one side but kept his eyes on her face.

She licked her lips and opened her mouth wordlessly. She breathed slowly for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"Do you think that I like you?" He said it slowly. It was the only time she'd ever heard him sound vulnerable.

"Why are you asking me that?" She cleared her throat and turned her head to the side. She could feel another blush creeping up her throat.

"Why won't you just answer the question?" A trace of irritation leaked into his tone, his patience wearing thin. There were too many emotions warring inside him to stay calm for much longer.

"Why do you keep answering my questions with a question?" She could see him tensing up but she couldn't stop. This was all too much.

"God damnit Rory!" He passed a hand through his hair. "It's a simple question, why can't you just give it a simple fucking answer."

"Stop yelling!" She said angrily.

"W-what do you want from me Rory?" He quickly fumbled his words as his face contorted into a hard sneer. "Did you tell me all this so I could reassure you? Tell you it was all bullshit, that he didn't know what he was talking about? Then everyone would be happy right? Send you on your merry way, back to your perfect fucking relationship. No harm, no foul."

"I didn't tell you all that just so you could reassure me." She scooted away from him until she could stretch her legs out slightly.

"Really? 'Cause as I recall, you said I was doing a bad job at 'comforting' you. Still say you're not looking for reassurance?" He shook his head in disgust.

"I didn't come to you, okay? You found me. So don't act like I came crawling to you, pouring my heart out, asking you if I had the perfect relationship. That's crap and you know it."

"Then what do you want from me? You don't want my reassurance, you don't want my honesty, then what do you want?" He lowered his head slightly in an attempt to catch her gaze.

She breathed slowly for a minute, anxiously shaking one leg. Jess stared at her silently before sighing in aggravation. "Whatever Rory."

As he made a move to stand her voice stopped him.

"I…I want to know…if he was right." She swallowed tensely before looking up. Their eyes locked and she stared at him intensely.

His jaw tensed for a moment before he took a large breath. He let it out slowly before quietly saying, "He was right."

Her stomach was churning with uneasy butterflies and her heart was pounding in her chest. "Oh."

"Yeah." He moved to stand again.

Her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. His head snapped back to look at her just as she had managed to pull her knees beneath her. She leaned forward clumsily as she yanked on his wrist, causing him to shakily rise to his knees as well.

When she kissed him it was rushed and awkward, her lips clashing with his in a nervous frenzy. He pulled his wrist from her grasp and settled it on her face gently, trying to slowly coax her into a steady rhythm. With his fingers lightly skimming her cheek and his other hand on her waist she slowly relaxed into a more natural kiss.

He snaked his arm further around her back and pulled her closer, kissing her softly. Suddenly her hands slid between their bodies and pushed against his chest. He detached from her sloppily, not prepared for the sudden turn in events. She was leaning away from him; her hands still firmly planted on his chest. As his eyes focused he could clearly see the panic on her face.

"Oh my god." She was breathing heavily, a combination of the kissing and her anxiety.

"Rory." He stated, also somewhat breathlessly, resisting her urges to push him away.

"Jess, let go." She squirmed against his hands that were resting on her lower back.

"No." He stated firmly.

"I can't do this." She continued to wrestle with him, to no avail.

"You already did." He raised his voice slightly.

Her body instantly stilled as the impact of his words washed over her. She had cheated.

Jess watched her face crumble and finally released her, his hands dropping limply at his sides. A second later he fell back, sitting with his legs stretched before him as his hands supported his weight.

The last image he registered was her retreating form.

* * *

**Oh jeez, I'm hoping for some super amazing and happy reviews for the amount of R/J-ness in this chapter haha. Thank you so much for reading and _please review!_**


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